1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the prevention or treatment and cure of dermatitis caused by contact with poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and related plants containing urushiol compounds.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac all belong to a family of plants referred to as Anacardiaceae, which are well-known for their toxic effects on mammals. The active toxin in these plants is an organic compound known as urushiol. Urushiol usually comprises a 1,2-dihydroxy benzene (catachol) with an alkane side chain consisting of 11-19 carbon atoms, and having either zero, one or three points of unsaturation, depending on the plant source. When one of these plants makes contact with the skin, the urushiol penetrates the surface of the skin and often results in a condition referred to as rhus dermatitis, manifesting itself symptomatically as skin irritation, inflammation and blistering. Many attempts have been made over the years to solve this problem, and there have been varying levels of success. Virtually all of the remedies fall into one of three types: (1) using soap and water or other organic solvents to remove the toxic compound, (2) using barrier creams to prevent allergens from contacting the skin, and (3) using detoxicants to chemically react with and neutralize the urushiol. Under the third type of treatment, upon which this invention focuses, most prior art methods have concentrated on points of unsaturation in the alkane side chain of the urushiol molecule with attempts at oxidation. However, limited success has been achieved through such efforts, prompting the inventor herein to reconsider the problem by using one of several common and safe metal salts as a means of deactivating the urushiol through chelation and thus alleviating and even curing its physiological effects.
Using a detoxicant on the urushiol present in the skin carries the benefits of eliminating the cause of the rhus dermatitis. However, while many different chemicals can possibly be used as a detoxicant, there are very few which satisfy the requirements of being highly effective, fast-acting, easy to obtain and administer, non-irritating to the skin, and inexpensive to produce. Therefore, a treatment for rhus dermatitis is desired which can deactivate the toxic urushiol, and which is easily applied through the use of a pharmaceutically acceptable preparation. The inventive detoxicant is intended to be applied topically in either an aqueous, alcohol, or other polar solvent, but can also be used in conjunction with a number of other products. A nonexclusive list of other applications would be insect repellants, sun screen lotions, camouflage colorings, as well as antiseptic and anesthetic ointments and sprays to reduce dermatitis symptoms. Additionally, the detoxicant would prove beneficial as part of a vanishing cream base as a means of preventing urushiol contact with the skin.